Install MoinMoin

You can install MoinMoin to either:

The installation to a system location is easier, so choose that if possible.

/!\ If you have several versions of Python installed, please use the same version for setup and for running the wiki. Usually, the latest Python version will get the best results.

As you have chosen to not use a preconfigured package for your system this time it is highly recommended that you do not install MoinMoin into the default location. This is because otherwise, if you later want to install a moin package of your distribution this will overwrite your existing installation. The most common path for your own installations is below /usr/local (this is called the PREFIX). A command that should be ok for most Linux distributions and also MacOS X is

> python setup.py install --prefix='/usr/local' --record=install.log

This will install the shared files to '/usr/local/share/moin' and the moin code to /usr/local/lib/python2.x/site-packages/MoinMoin/.

Debugging setup process

If you have problems with the setup.py install step, try using the command:

> python -v setup.py --quiet install --record=install.log

The additional -v flag should provide you detailed verbose messages every step of the way.

/!\ On Linux, if you get an error like Invalid Python installation: cannot find /usr/lib/Python2.x/config/Makefile, you may not have the python module distutils installed, it's usually a part of the Python development libarary (python-dev). Some Linux distributions may not have installed it by default. For example, on Mandrake you need to install the python-devel package, on Debian it's called python-dev.

Installing to the default system location

> python setup.py --quiet install --record=install.log

This installs MoinMoin to the default system location (typically the Python directory, for example on Linux, inside /usr/lib/python2.x/site-packages/MoinMoin and /usr/share/moin). Look at the install.log file to see what was installed, and where.

Installing in the home directory or another specific location

Linux example, installing in the home directory:

> python setup.py --quiet install --prefix=$HOME --record=install.log

Windows example, installing in the C:\moin directory:

> python setup.py --quiet install --prefix="C:\moin" --record=install.log

All MoinMoin files will then be installed inside those directories, see install.log to know which files were installed, and where.

Note: You will likely see the following warning:

This means exactly what it says, you need to add your install directory to the search path of Python, or it won't find the MoinMoin code.

For example, if you are running using a webserver and standard CGI, edit moin.cgi and add your installation directory to the Python path, like this:

import sys
sys.path.insert(0, 'C:/moin')